Tire chain



y 6, 3 J. R. REYBURN 2,085,512

TIRE CHAIN Original Filed Aug. 20, 1935 INVE TOR doxr/v E y5MN BY v W1 aATTORNEY Patented July 6-, 191 37 TIRE CHAIN John R. Reyburn, Fairfield,Conn., assignor to American Chain and Cable Company, Inc., a corporationof New York Original application August 20, 1935, Serial No.

3 Claims.

The present application is a division of my copending application SerialNo. 36,943, filed August 20, 1935,.now Patent No. 2,053,047, and relatesto improvements in tire chains of the type comprising a pair of sidechains connected by cross chains disposed in. cruciform sets.

Since such tire chains must be adjustable to take up wear of the tireand of thechain as well, there is apt to be a greater gap between 1 thecross chains along the tread of the tire in the region where the sidechains are joined than at other parts of the wheel, and an object of thepresent invention is to provide special means for closing this gap.

A more specific object of the invention'is to provide what I term afloating cross chain set to bridge said gap, thefloating set beingpermanently secured to theside chains near the joint and being providedat the free ends thereof with connectors for attachment to the sidechains at aniyltconvenient point on the opposite side of the Otherobjects and advantages ofuny invention will appear in the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment, andthereafterthe novelty andscope of the invention will be set forth in the claims.

a In the accompanying drawing;

, Figure 1 is a fragmental view in perspective 30 of a portion of anautomobile wheel with my improved tire chain attached thereto,illustrating particularly the floating cross chain set employed in theregion where the side chains are coupled together;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental plan view of the tire chain shown in Fig. 1 withthe side chains and the floating cross chains disconnected; and

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a hook which may be A portion of the rim noof an automobile wheel and a pneumatic tire ll thereon is shown in Fig.

1.' On the tire is mounted a tire chain assembly, which, as best shownin Fig. 2, comprises 5 a pair of side chains l2 connected by cruciformcross chain sets l3, l3a, l3b, etc. Each of these sections consists offour (4) chain members l4 arranged like the legs of a letter X andradiating from a central link l5. This central link may 50 be of anysuitable kind but preferably is of hourglass form, as shown in thedrawing. This form is preferred because it provides four lobe portionsl6, each of which is engaged by a chain leg l4.

The lobe portions serve to separate the legs ll 55 and provide a greaterspread between the cross- 36,943, now Patent No. 2,053,047. Divided andthis application July 21, 1936, Serial No. 91,663

chain legs at their common connecting point, thus distributing thetractive effort of the cross chain members more uniformly about theperiphery of the tire. The outer ends of the cross chain members Id arepermanently secured by means of hooks IT to the side chains I2.

In the particular embodiment illustrated, each cross chain leg comprisesa pair of specially formed links I 8 connected by flat loop links H) tothe hooks H. The links it, as fully described and claimed in the parentapplication of which the present application is a division, areconstructed to stand out to a maximum extent from the tread surface ofthe tire, thereby providing a maximum grip on soft material, such as,mud, snow, and deep loose earth.

The ends of each side chain are connected to-' gether by means offasteners 25 to form a closed ring. As shown clearly in Fig. 2, theforward legs H of the set l3 are connected to the side chains very nearthe rear legs (that is the upper legs, as viewed in Fig. 2) of the setl3a, there being actually only one intervening link. Similarly, theforward legs of the set l3a are connected to the side chains immediatelyadjacent the fasteners 25. However, the rear legs of set l3b cannot beconnected to the extreme ends of the side chains but must be spacedtherefrom so as to provide for the necessary take- I up as the tirechain stretches or the tire becomes reduced in diameter due to wear. orother reasons. Thus, there is apt to be a wide gap between the crosschain set I3a on one side of the fasteners 25 and the cross chain setI31) on the other side, and in order to fill up this gap I provide afloating cross chain set I30 which is similar in form to the other crosschain sets but has only two of its legs permanently attached to the sidechains, the other two legs being provided with means 28 by which theymay be attached to the side chains beyond the fasteners 25 after theside chains have been fastened together.

Obviously, various forms of detachable hooks may be employed on theouter ends of the links Ila of the floating set, but the particular bookI prefer to use is that shown at 28 in Fig. 3. This hook consists ofa..rod.bent to form a substantially closed eye 29 at one end which isinterlinked with the end link IQ of the leg Ila. The other end of thehook is' bent to form an open eye 30 adapted to hook into a link of theside chain l2, but the shape of the link is such that the cross chainmust be twisted, as shown in Fig. 3, out of normal position before itcan be inserted between the two eyes of the hook and be interlinked withthe open eye 38. The linkis prevented from unhooking accidentally by theoverlying substantially closed eye portion 29 and by the fact that thereis a narrow space between the eyes 29 and 30 through which the link may7 same side chain links, I prefer to use single closed hooks 3i at thesepoints instead of the usual double hooks ll. Similarly, the adjacentlegs of the crossechain set i317 are also permanently attached to theside chains by single hooks so that if necessary the hooks 28 may beinterlinked with the same side chain links as are engaged by the hooks Mof the section i317.

In operation, the tire chain is placed upon the tire and the ends ofeach of the side chains are coupled together by means of the fasteners25, in the usual manner. Thereafter, the free ends of the floating setare hooked to the links of the side chain, thus filling up the gap whichnormally occurs at the tread in the region where the sidechains arecoupled. Since the floating tire chain section is provided withdetachable hooks 28 it may be drawn as tightly as desired ,or the set83b and be hooked into the side chains beyond the points where the hooks3i connect the members of set iiib to the side chains.

While my invention is applicable for general use it will be foundof'particular advantage on 40 farm tractors or other vehicles which moverelatively slowly through mud or soft ground. With such vehicles it ismore important to prevent any material gap in the gripping surface ofthe wheel than on a vehicle which travels at relatively high 5 speed,because when a portion of the tire which is bare of gripping chainsengages the soft surface, the wheel speeds up and gatherssufilcientmomentum to overcome the gripping action of the next cross chain set,and such slippage gradually increases until the entire wheel slidesaround without obtaining adequate hold on the surface. This difilcultyis overcome by the use of my floating cross chain set.

Having thus described my invention what I claims as new and desire toprotect byLetters Patent is as follows.

I'claim: I

l. A tire chain assembly comprising a pair of side chains, each sidechain being formed with coupling means at one end thereof for detachablymaking fastto any of a series of links adjacent the other end of thechain whereby each side chain may be adjustably connected to form aclosed loop of desired size, tread members connecting the side chainstogether including a cross chain adjacent said coupling means andanother cross chain adjacent said series of links, a floating crosschain permanently attached at one end to one of the side chains adjacentthe first-named cross chain, said floating cross chain being of sumcientlength to bridge the coupling points of the side chains and extend to apoint adjacent the second-named cross chain when the tire chain assemblyis mounted on a tire, and means on the free end of the floating crosschain adapted to detachably hook fast to any of the links of the otherside chain including the link to which said second-named cross chain isconnected.

2. A tire chain assembly comprising a pair of side chains, each sidechain being formed with coupling means at one end thereof for detachablymaking fast to any of a series of links adjacent the other end of thechain whereby each side chain may be adjustably connected to form aclosed loop of desired size, tread members connecting the side chainstogether including a cross chain adjacent the coupling means and anothercross chain adjacent said series of links, a four legged floating crosschain set with two legs thereof permanently attached to the side chainsadjacent the first-named cross chain, said floating set being'ofsuflicient length to bridge the coupling points of the side chains andextend to a point adjacent the second-named cross chain when the tirechain assembly-is mounted on a tire, and a single eye hookat the freeend of each of the other legs of the floating set adapted to bedetachably hooked fast to any of the links of side chains including thelinks to' which said second-named cross chain is connected.

3. A tire chain assembly comprising a pair of side chains, each sidechain being formed with coupling means at one end thereof for detachablymaking fast to any of a series of links adjacent the other end of thechain whereby each side chain may be'adjustably connected to form r aclosed loop of desired size, tread members connecting the side chainstogether including a cross chain adjacent said coupling means andanother cross chain adjacent said series of links, a floating crosschain permanently attached at one end to one of the side chains adjacentthe first-named cross chain, said floating cross chain being ofsufficient length to bridge the coupling points of the side chains andextend to a point adjacent the second-named cross chain when the tirechain assembly is mounted on a tire, and means on the free end of thefloating cross chain adapted to detachably hook fast to any of aplurality of links of the other side chain adjacent said second-namedcross chain.

JOHN R. REYBURN.

